Cirque Du College

Hi my name is Rubin Lilliana I'm 17 years old and I go to the strangest boarding school imaginable! A school that trains Circus performers, but its not all fun here, people keep going missing.

At the Cirque Du College their is every talent and freak show imaginable there's just one problem they keep disappearing. Rubin Lilliana is the most skilled tight rope walker in the world but when her rope mysteriously falls in the middle of her exam she's determined to find out who sabotaged her and w

Chapter 1 – Rubin

Never Mix Knives and Temperamental Trapeze Artists

I was finally here, my first year at the Cirque Du College. It towered in front of me, it was a huge medieval castle but right in the centre was the top of a grand tent, The Big Top. It was red and at night the huge spotlights lit the sky telling people we were here and we were performers, that’s what my father always said. My father was Dr.Ilios Kristophsky and he used to be the headmaster of the school that was before the accident. My dad was the most amazing fire-eater you could ever imagine! He could eat fire, juggle fire, make huge bonfires and leap through them unscathed. One day however my dad was attempting to perform the grandest trick yet, jumping over a mile high bonfire whilst juggling fire and swallowing the odd stick of fire. He was all ready on his trampoline ready to jump over the fire, at that moment everyone looked up to the sky as someone had set off a grand fireworks display and when we all looked back my dad had burnt to a crisp in the bonfire, the strange thing is that he was right near the edge like he had simply fell in or he was pushed. We’re all trying to kid ourselves that he fell in but I think we all know that’s not the case. My mum died soon after of heartbreak and depression so here I am at the Cirque Du College as my Aunt Mildred Kristophsky now runs the school. I heaved my trunk to the gates of the college; I swear this thing weighed less when I set off unless someone suddenly decided to pile bricks into it back at the petrol station. I pressed the buzzer next to the gate and waited.

“Welcome to the Cirque Du College, how may I help you?” came a very crackly dull voice

“Hi my name is Rubin, Mildred Kristophsky is my aunt, I’m here to join the school” I said very confident and excited

“Can you hold for one second?” asked the voice

“Yeah sure, I’ll wait” I replied

I sat down on my trunk next to the gate and waited and waited and waited. The stupid woman didn’t come back for a whole three and a half hours! I kept buzzing and buzzing but there was no reply.

“Hello!” I shouted towards the school

“Hello?” said a girl in the distance just coming out of the school doors

“Hey! Do you think you could let me in?” I asked as she walked up to the gate

“I don’t think I should do that,” she said nervously

The girl had long wavy fire red hair down to her waste and large green eyes. She wore a black leotard with a small picture of a fire on the left breast; she had a red tutu on, black ballet shoes with red ribbons and white tights. As I looked her up and down I realised that she had two rather large rather scary looking knives in her hands.

“But I buzzed and the woman said wait a second and she never came back, I’m the head’s niece” I said pleadingly

“Oh, oh dear” she said with a little chuckle “Yes I don’t expect she would have ever came back”

“What do you mean?” I asked inquiringly

“Well lets just say Helen likes her men and there was a” she coughed at this point “Big one waiting in her room” she burst out laughing

She began walking towards the car park at the right hand side of the school still laughing to herself about my predicament.

“Hey!” I shouted, “Wait a minuet!”

“Yes?” she asked

“You gonna let me in or what?” I asked impatiently

“That would be a negative I’m afraid” she said with a smirk

“Why not look I’ve been standing here for hours and you still won’t let me in I demand to be let in right now!” I shouted

As I was shouting at her I didn’t even notice that she had pressed the button and opened the gate for me and she was stood there leaning against the wall smirking at me.

“You done?” she asked

I ignored her and dragged my trunk inside the gates and up to the school door; she followed at the side of me giggling to herself with her arms folded still clutching her knives. She opened the door for me and allowed me in first still giggling. When I got inside I let out the hugest gasp ever, the school was more amazing than I’d even imagined. There was a grand foyer with juggling batons on the walls and a trapeze swing above my head with a girl hanging off it. She had long silvery hair that seemed so perfect and smooth even though she was hanging upside down. She wore a white leotard with a long silver tutu and some perfect white ballet shoes with glittery silver ribbons. She had a symbol of a pair of wings on her right breast and the symbol glittered just like the rest of her outfit. Suddenly she spiralled down from her trapeze and landed perfectly in front of me on her tiptoes with her arms out to the sides, she smiled pleased with herself.

“Who do we have hear then Era?” she asked the girl beside me

“A new girl Leah” Era replied with distaste in her voice

“What’s your name?” Leah asked me

“Rubin my name’s Rubin I’m the headmistresses niece” I said nervously

“Nice to meet you Rubin” she held her hand out to me and I shook it.

“Shouldn’t you get back on your high bar Leah?” Era said viciously

“Go play with your knives Era” Leah replied turning her back on her

Leah started to climb the small ladder hanging from the roof to get back up to her trapeze bar. As she climbed Era clutched her knives tightly in her hands and aimed at the ladder above Leah’s head. All of a sudden she threw her knives with perfect precision and cut both ropes holding the rope ladder up, Leah fell with a yell and landed in a heap on the floor.

“Era you stupid cow!” she screamed and walked up to Era

“Oops did I cut you ladder Leah? I’m so, so sorry” Era said sarcastically

Leah lunged at Era at this point pulling her hair and pushing her to the ground, Era started to kick at Leah and try to knock her off but then Era spotted her knives on the floor next to Leah and she grabbed them and held them to Leah’s throat.

“Get off me!” Era screamed

“Hey, hey calm down Era” I said worriedly

“Yes calm down Era” came a familiar voice

We all looked at who had spoken and there stood my aunt Mildred. She had a ringleaders jacket on and a top hat, she held a long cane in her hand with a silver ball on top, she had some small shorts on with fishnet tights and high heels, she looked so young and beautiful.

“Now lets stop all this fighting and get back to our separate skills shall we?” she asked calmly

“Yes Madame Kristophsky” Era and Leah said in unison as they walked out the room in opposite directions.

“Hello Rubin my dear” Aunt Mildred walked up to me with her arms outstretched and embraced me in a tight hug.

“Well come on then dear let me show you to your room” she put her arms around my shoulders and clicked her fingers and two acrobats back flipped into the room and carried my trunk after us. She led me to a large glass lift that took us all the way up to the top floor, which I might add was number 120!

“Thank God there’s no stairs,” I thought

When we finally arrived on floor 120 there was just one room in front of us. There were two large golden doors with intricate patterns all over them. Aunt Mildred opened the doors for me and led me inside.

“Wow” I gasped

There was a large four-poster bed with thin white curtains and a white silk bedspread. There was a large white chest at the end of my bed with an outfit laid on top. There was a large wardrobe that like everything else was white with silver handles, as I looked up there was a huge skylight letting the sun stream in but that wasn’t the only thing that amazed me, there was a long tightrope stretched along the length of the room and a ladder and ledge on the right wall. I went over to the trunk and discovered that somehow all my belongings had been unpacked for me. I inspected the outfit on top of the trunk. It was a baby blue leotard with a white tutu with silver trimmings, there was a pair of white ballet hoes with baby blue ribbons and the end of the ribbons were tipped with silver glitter. On my leotard there was an emblem of a cloud.

“This is all so beautiful Aunt, thank you,” I whispered

“Your welcome my dear, now I must go and attend to Era and Leah leaving them together for too long is never a good idea! Dinner is at 8!” and with that she left.

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